Fine money is a way forward

Saturday

Nov 17, 2012 at 8:59 PM

Billions of dollars are a good start toward setting things right. The money isn’t the whole story, but it is part of the government’s attempt to punish BP for its part in the human and environmental catastrophe of its 2010 oil spill.

Billions of dollars are a good start toward setting things right.The money isn’t the whole story, but it is part of the government’s attempt to punish BP for its part in the human and environmental catastrophe of its 2010 oil spill.It is also — more importantly to the people in the areas most affected by the spill and its aftermath — a good chance for Louisiana to make a sizeable down payment on some of the work it hopes to do with the money it gets from BP’s fines.The federal government announced last week that it had reached a settlement with BP over the 14 criminal charges against the company.That settlement reportedly includes the payment of $4.5 billion in fines.U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Thursday that the government will use the federal Restore Act as a guide for how to distribute the fine money.That could be a tiny silver lining for Louisiana within the large cloud of the oil spill and its continuing effects.The money will never make up for the loss of human life or the environmental carnage created by the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the resulting spill.However, it will create a mechanism for some of the damage done by the oil spill to be reversed.The $4.5 billion reported last week will resolve the company’s criminal case with the federal government. Still pending is the civil side of the case, in which the federal government could seek as much as $21 billion in fines the company could face under the Clean Water Act.That larger sum will be distributed using the same framework as the criminal fines.For all the money, it is essential that Louisiana and the other Gulf Coast states affected by the spill use the money wisely.In Louisiana’s case, the state has a 50-year coastal plan, for which the fine money could provide a down payment.The plan — which will cost an estimated $50 billion over the next 50 years — will not guarantee the safety of the coast or that of the millions of people and businesses that call it home.What it will do, though, is create a good investment in making as many areas as safe as possible given the financial restraints the state faces.With the coastal plan, it is possible for Louisiana to take the fine money — that announced last week and whatever money could be forthcoming — and put it toward the best use for the future of the state and its people.The state must do exactly that with the money. We simply cannot afford to put off work on our most-pressing dilemma. And we certainly cannot afford to squander the money that will likely never come our way again.The fines will not bring back the people lost in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. And it will not undo the damage, much of which we likely have not even seen. But it will create a way to go from here. And that is a step forward.

Editorials represent the opinions of the newspaper, not of any individual.